Hubble Looks but Finds No Trace of Comet ISON

universetoday.com ^ | December 20, 2013 | Bob King on

[BenLurkin]

On December 18, the Hubble Space Telescope slewed to Comet ISON’s expected position and found nothing down to the incredibly faint magnitude of 25. According to astronomer Hal Weaver, who planned the ISON search, that limit implies any remaining fragments would have to be smaller than about 500 feet (160 meters) in diameter.

[GeronL]

interesting

[NoCmpromiz]

Sad day for BPEarthwatch...

On December 18, the Hubble Space Telescope slewed to Comet ISON’s expected position and found nothing down to the incredibly faint magnitude of 25.

[NonValueAdded]

Sorry, teach, the sun ate my comet.

[Bullish]

Uh-oh!

[Bullish]

The far side of the sun can be a mother!

[BCW]

It pulled a Han Solo...

[BCW]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks GeronL, additional to APoD.

[FroggyTheGremlim]

So it's not in its expected position?

That's unexpected!

[Yosemitest]

From YOUR SOURCE:

"After ISON was torn asunder by the sun, there existed the possibility that comet’s remains would follow a slightly DIFFERENT ORBIT.

No debris LARGER THAN 500 FEET IN DIAMETER.
500 Feet, or 160 meters for you that prefer the metric system over the common man's American System, is pretty big.
And that IS ONLY "IF" they knew "WHERE TO LOOK".
That's a pretty big "IF" .

Comet ISON Hubble Update Reveals No Debris Larger than 500ft DIA for C/2012-S1 on 12/19/2013

[dirtboy]

comet’s remains would follow a slightly DIFFERENT ORBIT.

Note the word slightly. Not significantly.

[dirtboy]

That video is pretty chock full of ‘ifs’ as well. Basically, IF the laws of physics have changed, then we might be in danger.

[Yosemitest]

December 26, 2013 is the day Ison was suppose to be closest to Earth on its outbound path.
So that day is the day that my concern level will start to lessen.

[Yosemitest]

Only time will tell ...

[dirtboy]

You need to stop looking at the orbital paths in a two-dimensional manner. Ison’s orbit is well outside the ecliptic. Earth’s orbit will not intersect that path as a result. There is a perfectly normal explanation for ISON’s disappearance, but that never stopped the internet conspiracy mongers from making up absurd explanations and peddling them to the gullible.

[Colonel_Flagg]

ping.

[Darksheare]

Ison est morte!

[Darksheare]

http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/Animations/Inner_2011.gif

All of that here in the inner solar system, and somehow ison is what we are supposed to be peeing our pants over?
Assuming that Ison is somewhere else because Hubble didn’t find it is a stretch.
The evidence is that ison is gone.
Todt.

[Yosemitest]

I understand three dimensions.

What you need to understand is:
We don't know WHERE Ison's debris IS.
We don't know HOW Ison disintegrated.
Was it a crumbling,
or was it an explosive disintegration cause from highly pressurized gases (heated to a high pressurization by the Sun's heat and radiation) inside the nucleus of Ison?
We don't know WHERE Ison disintegrated?
Did it happen BEFORE Ison started its "Sling-shot" around the Sun,
an thus, requiring a smaller change in its path to cause a danger to Earth?
Did it happen during the "Sling-shot" around the Sun?
Did it happen after the "Sling-shot" around the Sun?
IS the "V" pattern observed in its departure from the Sun just a "V" or is it a "Cone" shape shrapnel pattern that continues to widen as it travels through space?

I have no confidence that Earth is out of the danger from Ison's debris trail, just because Hubble didn't observe anything.
I have a very good friend that worked at Kwajalein Space Communications And Control Facility, who maintained their radar and long distance communications equipment.
He left there in the mid to late 80s, and he told me that the equipment of his day could not get a return on an object 500 feet in diameter
(depending upon its makeup, whether metal, an asteroid, or comet debris) until it was within 50,000 miles of Earth.
Now I know that technology has only gotten better since the 80s,
but at Ison's debris' speed, that's only about one hour or two hours at best, early notification that we're in danger of a "near miss" or an impact.
That's not enough notification to really do anything about it
unless we have people standing and waiting at the ready to react to an immediate notification.

But you're so confident that we're not in danger.
You obviously never fired a shot-gun blast of pellets, have you?